Current Courses → Special Courses Of Interest

Special Courses of Interest

American Studies 152 E Native American Literature

TTh 12:30-2

B. Piatote

240 Mulford

4 Units

Class Number: 12404

Cross-listed with Native American Studies C152

This survey course introduces prominent genres of Native American literary production, including oral traditions, nonfiction essay, novel, and short story. Selections are drawn primarily from Native American/Aboriginal writers and performers in the United States and Canada from the nineteenth century to present. Readings will also include a traditional Nez Perce story in the original language, with translation provided by the instructor; and discussions of non-alphabetic texts such as winter counts and wampum belts. In addition to aesthetic considerations, particular attention will be given to the social, cultural, and political contexts in which these works were produced. Authors include William Apess, Zitkala-Sa, Charles Eastman, D'Arcy McNickle, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, James Welch, and Sherman Alexie.

American Studies C 172 History of American Business

MW 12:30-2

C. Rosen

C230 Cheit

4 Units

Class Number: 12405

Cross-listed with UGBA C172

This course covers an amazing history of creative innovation, growth, structural change, challenge, trouble, travail – and more growth, more change, challenge, and trouble. Less than two hundred years ago, the U.S. was just starting to transform itself from a country of farmers and village craftsmen into a nation based on large scale, mechanized, corporate controlled industry. It is now an industrial colossus dominated by huge multinational corporations that operate in markets around the world. Its leaders are experiencing many forms of disruptive innovation. They must manage, find economic opportunities, and politically maneuver in a marketplace that is being constantly shaped and reshaped by international competition, technological and financial innovation, and the ever insistent demands from the investor community for maximal profits every quarter. They must also deal with new forms of financial, economic, social, and environmental regulation, here and abroad, as well as the ongoing rise of new generations of dynamic competitors in China, India, and other parts of the developing world. How has American business gotten to where it is today? How can historical insight help us understand the strategic, organizational, geo-political, economic, social, and environmental problems, opportunities and challenges facing today’s corporate managers? The purpose of UGBA – AS C 172 is to give you historical perspective on these issues. The course illuminates the parallels and continuities as well as the differences between current and past developments in management problem solving, technological and organizational innovation, and business-government interaction, as well as business’s impact on American culture and its relationship with society as a whole.

University of California BerkeleyOffice of Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies, Undergraduate Division - College of Letters & Science